Date post: | 19-Oct-2014 |
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CONSIDERATIONS FOR ACCOUNTING PROFESSIONALS WISHING TO PERFORM XBRL-SPECIFIC ASSURANCE SERVICES
Hang Miao
BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO XBRL
eXtensible Business Reporting Language
Computing language designed to improve quality of financial reporting by: Eliminating manual keying Making financial statements between
companies more comparable
BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO XBRL (CONT’D)Example:
Consider the following piece of financial information:
Assets held For Sale € 100,000
In XBRL, this information would be represented as:
<ifrs-gp: AssetsHeldSale ontextRef=”Current_AsOf” unitRef=”U-Euros” decimals=”0”> 100000 </ifrs-gp:AssetsHeldSale>
Source: http://www.xbrl.org/Example1/
BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO XBRL (CONT’D) XBRL financial statements are created
by tagging financial statement data with elements from an XBRL taxonomy
An XBRL taxonomy is a dictionary of the XBRL tags.
<ifrs-gp: AssetsHeldSale contextRef=”Current_AsOf” unitRef=”U-Euros” decimals=”0”>100000</ifrs-gp:AssetsHeldSale>
Financial statement
s
XBRL taxonomy
XBRL documen
t (Instance
)
Users
Source: http://www.informationbuilders.com/images/products/webfocus/enlarge/enl_xbrl-fml.jpg
WHAT SERVICES CAN AN ACCOUNTANT PROVIDE WITH RESPECT TO XBRL?
XBRL was not designed with information integrity in mind
Possible problems with XBRL include: Improper use of taxonomic elements Improper use of custom elements XBRL document does not match original
financial statements
CAN PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS PROVIDE XBRL SERVICES?
Assurance is currently not required for XBRL documents
As with any other assurance engagement, the accountant must be independent
See AICPA SOP 09-1 for list of engagement conditions
CHOOSING BETWEEN AN ATTESTATION REPORT AND SPECIFIED PROCEDURES REPORT Two types of reports can be issued:1. Attestation Report (US: AT 101, Can:
HB 5025)2. Specified Procedures Report (US: AT
201, Can: HB 5025) Choice depends on user needs Specified procedures report requires
input from users
SKILLS/EXPERTISE REQUIRED
Knowledge of regulatory environment (e.g. SEC filing rules in the US)
Knowledge of IT and XBRL Ability to use XBRL reading and
manipulation programs
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
More guidance – AICPA Exposure Draft Increased size and complexity of XBRL
filings Increased user sophistication with
respect to XBRL
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